Dude, where's my karma?

February 03, 2003|By Edited by RedEye staff members (ritaredeye@tribune.com)

Gandhi was soooo not a slacker.

It took the fasting of 150 protesters and the growing outrage of a nation for MTV to get the hint, and now the music channel is backpedaling from its lampoon of India's revered icon.

The international flak centers around the cartoon "Clone High USA," which concocts DNA copies of historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Cleopatra and Mahatma Gandhi, and clads them in hip clothes and earrings, adding a dash of teenage angst.

MTV spoofs Gandhi as the googly-eyed "G-Man," a party animal who munches on junk food.

"MTV US apologizes if we have offended the people of India and the memory of Mahatma Gandhi," MTV said in a statement, according to the Indian Express. "We have the utmost respect for Gandhi and all that he represents as a revered Indian leader and one of the most important in world history."